Implantable polymeric medical devices suffer from a lack of visibility under current clinical imaging techniques. To circumvent this problem, poly(3-caprolactone-co-a-triiodobenzoate-3-caprolactone)s (PCL-TIB) containing from 3.5% to 24% of triiodobenzoate-3-caprolactone units were synthesized as new X-ray macromolecular contrast agents. Physico-chemical and thermal properties of PCL-TIBs were evaluated by 1 H NMR, SEC, DSC and TGA. Their potential as radio-opacifying additive for medical devices was evaluated by preparing polymeric blends of PCL-TIB with various (co)polyesters. At first, in vitro X-ray visibility of PCL/PCL-TIB blends was evaluated. A more in depth characterization was then carried out based on PCL/PLA 50 -PEG-PLA 50 blends. The impact of PCL-TIB content on the mechanical properties of blends was evaluated by tensile tests. Stability of X-ray visibility was evaluated by ex vivo implantation of non-degraded blends and of blends degraded for 6 weeks in vitro. Finally, cytocompatibility was assessed by evaluating the proliferation of L929 fibroblasts on the blends. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: FT-IR spectra of TIBA and TIBC; 1 H NMR spectrum of TIBC; 1 H NMR spectrum of PCL-TIB 3.5 ; thermograms of PCL-I 10 and PCL-TIB 3.5 ; in vitro X-ray images of PCL-TIB/PCL lms; dogbone-style tensile specimens used for tensile tests; binary X-ray images of PCL-TIB/PLA 50 -b-PEG-b-PLA 50 blends. See Materials PCL ( M n z32 000 g mol À1 ), 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA, 98%), thionyl chloride (97%), lithium diisopropylamide (LDA, 2 M in THF/heptane/ethylbenzene), were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St-Quentin Fallavier, France). NH 4 Cl (>99%) was obtained from Acros Organics (Noisy-le-Grand, France), technical grade MgSO 4 from Carlo Erba (Val de Reuil, France), methanol (MeOH, $99.8%), dichloromethane (DCM, $99.9%) and anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (THF, $99.9%) from Sigma-84126 | RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 84125-84133This journal is